Compositional data analysis for elemental data in forensic science

Discrimination of material based on elemental composition was achieved within a compositional data (CoDa) analysis framework in a form appropriate for use in forensic science. The methods were carried out on example data from New Zealand nephrite. We have achieved good separation of the in situ outcrops of nephrite from within a well-defined area. The most significant achievement of working within the CoDa analysis framework is that the implications of the constraints on the data are acknowledged and dealt with, not ignored.